From Comet Closures to Space Station Shifts: Your Daily Astronomy Update

0:00 Avery: Hello, and welcome to Astronomy Daily, your

0:03 source for the latest news from across the

0:05 cosmos. I'm Avery.

0:06 Anna: And I'm Anna. It's great to have you with us.

0:09 Today we say goodbye to our interstellar

0:12 visitor and look to the future of life in

0:14 orbit.

0:15 Avery: That's right. We'll be talking about a

0:16 comment from another solar system that just

0:19 made its closest approach to Earth. And we'll

0:22 check in on the Parker solar probe as it once

0:24 again braves the Sun's fiery atmosphere.

0:27 Plus, a fun story about how you could have

0:30 helped design a mascot for the next mission

0:32 to the Moon.

0:33 Anna: And later in the show, we'll dive into a

0:35 cosmic mystery involving incredibly powerful

0:38 blue explosions, a building sized

0:41 asteroid with a small chance of hitting the

0:43 Moon, and Russia's surprising new plans for

0:46 its future in space after the International

0:48 Space Station.

0:49 So let's get started.

0:51 Avery: First up, a, visitor from very, very

0:54 far away. On Friday, December

0:57 19, interstellar comet

0:59 3I Atlas made

1:02 its closest approach to our planet.

1:05 Anna: It came within 168 million

1:08 miles of Earth. Now that it's passed us, it

1:11 will begin its long journey back out of our

1:13 solar system, continuing its voyage through

1:16 the Milky Way.

1:17 Avery: And, this isn't just any comet. It's only the

1:19 third object we've ever detected passing

1:22 through our solar system. That originated

1:24 from interstellar space.

1:26 Anna: Exactly. It was first spotted by NASA's

1:29 Atlas system on July 1, 2025.

1:32 By analyzing its trajectory, scientists

1:34 determined it didn't come from around here.

1:37 In fact, its path suggests it comes from a

1:39 region of our galaxy that might be up to 7

1:42 billion years old.

1:44 Avery: 7 billion years. That means this little icy

1:47 wanderer is significantly older than our own

1:49 4.6 billion year old solar system.

1:52 It's like a relic from a completely different

1:54 time and place.

1:56 Anna: Mm. A true cosmic fossil. And it

1:59 gave scientists a bit of a surprise. As it

2:01 made its closest approach to the sun, the

2:04 comet brightened much more than expected. And

2:06 the reason for that extra glow is still a

2:09 mystery. It's a fascinating puzzle for

2:11 scientists to analyze as they gather the data

2:13 from its Flyby. So farewell, 3i

2:16 Atlas. You put on quite a show for us.

2:19 Avery: Speaking of getting close to the Sun, NASA's

2:22 Parker Solar Probe has been doing just that

2:24 again.

2:26 Anna: That's right. On December 13, the probe

2:28 completed its 26th close approach, or

2:31 perihelion. And it wasn't just another

2:34 flyby. It matched its own incredible

2:36 records.

2:37 Avery: And what records they are, it flew just

2:40 3.8 million miles from the solar surface.

2:43 To put that in perspective, earth is about

2:45 93 million miles away. And its

2:48 speed, a, blistering 430,000

2:51 miles per hour.

2:52 Anna: It's almost impossible to comprehend that

2:55 velocity. During this close approach, the

2:57 spacecraft was completely out of contact with

3:00 Earth, operating fully autonomously as its

3:03 instruments gathered data from right inside

3:05 the sun's atmosphere. The corona

3:07 Avery: And the timing is perfect. This is all

3:09 happening while the sun is in a very active

3:12 phase of its 11 year cycle.

3:14 Anna: That's the key. These observations are

3:16 critical for helping us understand our star

3:19 and the space weather events it produces,

3:21 like solar flares and coronal mass ejection.

3:24 That data is vital for protecting our

3:26 astronauts and technology both in orbit

3:29 and here on Earth.

3:31 Avery: Alright. From the intense heat of the sun to

3:33 something a little more whimsical, NASA

3:36 recently gave the public a very unique

3:38 opportunity. The chance to design a mascot

3:40 for the Artemis 2 mission.

3:42 Anna: This is such a great story. In collaboration

3:45 with the platform Freelancer, NASA held a

3:48 contest for a zero gravity indicator. These

3:51 are small, usually plush items that the crew

3:54 takes with them when they start to fly

3:56 afloat. It's a simple visual cue that they've

3:58 reached the microgravity of space.

4:00 Avery: Right. It's a long standing tradition in

4:02 human spaceflight, but this is the very first

4:05 time the public has been invited to create

4:07 the crew's mascot. Artemis 2 is the

4:09 mission that will send four astronauts on a

4:12 trip around the moon in early 2026. So

4:15 this is a historic flight.

4:16 Anna: The response was overwhelming. The

4:19 contest received thousands of submissions

4:21 from over 50 countries. They've now

4:24 narrowed it down to 25 finalists and the

4:27 winning will be fabricated by NASA's own

4:30 thermal blanket Lab and will fly with the

4:32 astronauts on their journey.

4:34 Avery: I love that we won't know the winner until

4:36 closer to the launch date, but it's fantastic

4:38 to see this level of public engagement with

4:41 such a landmark mission. It really connects

4:43 people to the adventure of space exploration.

4:46 Anna: Now for a deep space mystery. For years,

4:49 astronomers have been puzzled by extremely

4:51 powerful and bright blue cosmic

4:54 explosions. They're called luminous fast

4:57 blue optical Transients, or L

4:59 LFBOTs for short. And we may

5:02 finally know what causes them.

5:04 Avery: Lfbots. The name itself is a

5:07 mouthful. What's the leading theory here?

5:09 Anna: Well, a, recently detected signal designated

5:12 at 2024wpp

5:16 has provided a major clue. It suggests

5:18 that LFBOTs are the result of an

5:21 extreme version of something called a tidal

5:24 disruption event, or tde.

5:27 Avery: That's when a black hole tears a star apart,

5:30 right?

5:31 Anna: Exactly. But in this case, we're talking

5:33 about a black hole with a mass up to 100

5:36 times that of our sun, completely shredding

5:39 its companion star in a matter of days.

5:41 This particular event at

5:44 2024wpp emitted

5:47 about 100 times more energy than an

5:49 average supernova explosion.

5:51 Avery: Wow. So what makes it so much more powerful

5:54 than a typical tde?

5:56 Anna: The theory is that this wasn't just a one

5:58 time. The black hole was likely

6:01 parasitically feeding from its companion star

6:03 for a long time, which created a huge

6:06 shell of material around the pair. When

6:09 the star finally spiraled close enough to be

6:12 completely shredded, the new stellar

6:14 material slammed into that pre existing

6:17 shell. That massive collision is what

6:20 generated the immense light and energy that

6:23 we observe as an lfbot. Yes.

6:26 Avery: So it's a cosmic two punch knockout. The star

6:29 gets torn apart and then its remains crash

6:31 into a wall of its own lost material. That's

6:34 an incredible level of cosmic violence.

6:36 Anna: It certainly is now bringing the

6:39 cosmic violence a little closer to home.

6:42 Let's talk about an asteroid named 2024

6:44 yr. 4.

6:46 Avery: Right. This is a building size asteroid

6:48 roughly 60 meters wide. And scientists have

6:51 calculated that there is about a 4% chance

6:53 that it will hit the moon in the year 2032.

6:56 Anna: A 4% chance isn't huge, but it's

6:59 certainly not zero. And the potential

7:02 consequences are significant. If it does

7:04 hit the moon, the impact could release energy

7:07 equivalent to 400 times the Hiroshima

7:10 bomb.

7:10 Avery: And it gets a bit more concerning. There's

7:13 also a 1% chance that the impact could

7:15 scatter meteorites into near Earth space.

7:18 That debris cloud could pose a real threat to

7:20 our satellites and any astronauts in orbit.

7:23 Anna: So what can be done? Is there a plan to

7:25 deflect it?

7:26 Avery: At the moment a deflection mission is

7:28 impractical. However, some options like

7:30 intentionally breaking it up into smaller,

7:32 less harmful pieces are being considered.

7:35 The most immediate step is to gather more

7:38 data.

7:38 Anna: and NASA's James Webb Space Telescope might

7:41 give us the clear view we need. There's a

7:44 potential observation window in February

7:46 2026 that could help scientists

7:48 refine the asteroid's orbit and get a much

7:51 better handle on the actual odds of a L

7:54 impact.

7:54 Avery: For our final story today, we're looking at a

7:57 major shift in the future of human

7:58 spaceflight. Russia has significantly altered

8:01 its plans for what comes after the

8:03 International Space Station.

8:05 Anna: That's right. The original plan was to build

8:07 an entirely new station, the Russian

8:10 Orbital Station or ros. But now

8:12 the plan has changed. The core of this new

8:15 station will actually be the old Russian

8:18 segment of the issuance.

8:20 Avery: So in 2030 when the US segment of the ISS

8:23 is scheduled to be deorbited and burned up in

8:25 the atmosphere, the Russian segment will just

8:28 detach and become its own station.

8:31 Anna: Essentially, yes, this decision is

8:33 widely seen as a money saving move for

8:36 Russia's war strapped economy. However,

8:39 it means their new national space station

8:41 will be based on modules that are already

8:44 over 30 years old.

8:46 Avery: That raises some pretty serious concerns.

8:48 Using hardware that old brings up major

8:51 questions about safety, long term maintenance

8:54 and the station's future scientific

8:56 capabilities.

8:57 Anna: It does. And it places Russia's program

9:00 in stark contrast with other nations. At

9:03 a time when China is operating its new

9:05 Tiangong space station and India is

9:08 developing its own, Russia is choosing to

9:11 repurpose aging infrastructure. It's a

9:14 significant moment that could reshape the

9:16 geopolitical landscape of human activity in

9:19 low Earth orbit.

9:21 Avery: And that is all the time we have for today.

9:23 From interstellar visitors to the shifting

9:25 future of space stations, it's been another

9:28 busy day in the world of astronomy.

9:30 Anna: We hope you enjoyed our tour of the latest

9:32 headlines from the cosmos.

9:34 Avery: Thank you for tuning in to ASTRONOMY Daily.

9:36 I'm Avery.

9:37 Anna: And I'm Anna. We'll be back on Monday with

9:40 more updates. Until then, keep looking up.

9:48 Avery: The world.